The Mercenary
by Devony V
Summary: Jake Sully had family; family that he'd left behind in the hope that he would return to Earth one day. He hadn't forgotten about her, and she hadn't forgotten him- but the RDA has just found her. *Rated for language and violence.
1. Prologue: Brown Eyes

**Another side not: yes, I will still have the OCs. Enjoy my repost!**

He remembered her brown eyes.

They were warm, and his brother had said that they always reminded him of chocolate. He and his brother both had blue-green eyes, but his Ellie had brown eyes. Not hazel like their father, not blue like their mother, but dark brown.

She had light brown hair like their father. He and his brother had received Mother's dark tresses. She was pretty, like Mother. She was smart, like Tommy. She was tough, like Father.

He'd only seen her cry a few times. When their parents died. She'd been with Tommy at the time. They'd evacuated when the plague hit home, but their parents had already been quarantined. They died within a week. She's cried for another.  
>She cried when he had left for Venezuela after a one-day leave for her birthday. She'd been right- when he came back he'd been in a wheelchair.<p>

She'd shed a few tears when they showed them Tommy's body. She'd turned away, unable to look at him. He'd kept a firm grip on her hand and a stony look on his face. Their brother, their champion, the genius- was no more.

Yet she didn't cry when he'd left. Or she did a good job at hiding it. She was ten years old at the time, a tender age. She knew he had to go, and he'd promised to return. And he wouldn't be gone for fifteen years. No way in hell, he'd promised.

Now, as he stood on the branch of their new home, barely a month after the battle that had changed his entire life, his existance, he couldn't help but let the few tears slide down his cheeks. The pain in his heart was starting to get to him. He'd promised to come back and he'd broken it.

Gentle footsteps caused his ears to perk up. He turned. His mate was waiting expectantly. Guilt suddenly hit him. She didn't know about the family he'd left behind. How could he count on himself to raise a family with this woman whom he loved so much when he couldn't even take care of his parents, his brother…his sister?

"Za'u yawne?" She said gently. He smiled, getting into the habit of speaking in her native tongue. "Oe ma, Neytiri. 'Aw swaw."

She nodded and smiled, turning back to the people. He turned, looked at the sunset one more time. He couldn't help but think how much Ellie would love the sunset here. She loved color. She said many-a times that it was all she had.

He finally tore his gaze away and went with his mate, knowing that he would return to that spot, again and again for years, trying to remember, and cherish the memories he had while imagining the life she must have been living in his absence.  
>She'll be fine.<p>

**Na'vi: **

**Za'u, yawne- Come, love?**  
><strong>Oe ma, Neytiri. 'aw swaw. – I am, Neytiri. One moment.<strong>


	2. Return to Sender

_Sent to: ISV Venture Star; Sully, Jacob_  
><em>From: Ella Sully<em>

_Hi, Jake, it's me, Ellie. Are you even getting these e-mails? I guess the system's down or something, huh?_

_So I graduated high school today. I wish you could be here, but I guess we can't have it all.I hope you're okay. Are you getting along up there alright? Haven't gotten into any fights? Though you could still probably kick ass even in a wheelchair…_

_Things are the same down here. Boring. I know you'd probably tell me to have fun on my graduation day, but that's pretty tough when my favorite guy isn't around._

_I really miss you, bro. I hope you're coming home soon._

_LOTS of love,_

_Your sister Ellie_

Ella Sully's eyes trailed along the words she'd written nearly five years ago. As she clicked back to the other e-mails over the years, she noticed how they would progressively have less and less feeling in them. Because with each e-mail, came no response, and Ella began to lose hope that her brother was reading the words. Words that reminded him, over and over again, that he had family back home, and she loved him dearly. She couldn't even send him a picture because of how weak the solar transmitters were. Short, quick e-mails had to do.

It had started off as daily e-mails. Dolan, her godfather, had told her that Jake would sort of be her open diary after he got out of cryo-sleep. After five years, nine months and twenty-two days, she sent all of the e-mails to Jake, eagerly awaiting a response. None came. Ella then began composing e-mails weekly. Then monthly. Then she only sent e-mails when something big happened. When she got a boyfriend (that was a sketchy one, knowing how he would freak out). When she graduated, each grade. It was after sending the last letter she realized that Jake wasn't going to answer. She stopped sending pointless e-mails to nobody. The prayers stopped and the hopes diminished.

Pulling at a strand of her hair, Ella looked at her bedroom wall. There were awards, plaques, her Astro-Physics degree, her sociology degree, and many other pointless frames. Her success couldn't fill the gap in her life.

The wall next to her bed was full of photographs from her childhood. Nearly all of the pictures were of her and her beloved brothers. They were both twelve years older than her and not nearly identical; Ella could hardly believe that they shared the exact same DNA. Tommy was tall and extremely intelligent, and Jake, while not unintelligent, was short and stocky. They were different. While Tommy was winning academic achievement awards, Jake was cutting class and getting into fights. Tommy went into science, Jake joined the army. After their parents died, Ella lived with Tommy while Jake was on tours. When he lost his walking ability, Jake moved back into a small apartment near Tommy and Ella.

Tommy was killed when Ella was ten. She thought that she would just move in with Jake, and they could take care of each other. But Jake knew that he had no money, no way to cake care of Ella.

So he decided to leave.

Not leave her, necessarily. He knew that the AVTR program would pay- he'd have enough money to get Ella them back on their feet, get them a better home, and get his legs back- but he'd have to pay the price of leaving all he had behind. Ella knew this. It killed her, but they both knew what was right.

"I'll come back, Ellie," he'd said. "I'll be back before you know it."

She was ten when he told her that. Ten years old, full of sorrow and mourning for Tommy, and hope and pride for Jake. Now she was twenty-two and alone. And he still wasn't back.

Ella bit her lip hard, staring at the picture of herself and her brothers, then, after trailing along a long line of pictures from her childhood, landed on the most recent one; and it hit her.

She pressed the record button on the side of the screen and sat straight up in her chair for a moment. Her eyes slid up to the green light, where she knew she was being recorded. She took in her pale, wan face, her round brown eyes and her limp, slightly frizzy brown locks that trailed over her shoulder.

"Hi Jake," she said quietly. "It's me, Ella...bit of a shock for not having seen me in a few years. We've probably both gone through changes." she bit her lip and looked down. "Uh, I- I graduated college. Pretty recently. I still have to find a job...I know that the field of astrophysics is competitive and it's stressful, but I'll try not to lose too much hair before you see me next." She swallowed. "So...the reason I'm sending this is to let you know that I'm doing all right, and I miss you, and I really, really want you to contact me. That'd be great." She swallowed again. "I don't know if you know, but...Dolan passed away a few years back. Influenza. I've been getting help though. I miss him. I miss you, too. And Tommy." She rubbed her fingers together, out of view of the camera. "I hope this gets to you. I stopped with the e-mails. I've got a plan. If it does get to you, and you're watching this..." she felt her throat swell up and a burning sensation pierce her eyes. "Write me back," she choked before stopping the recording. Once she was sure the camera was shut off, she laid her head on her desk, letting herself breathe, not letting the tears fall.

Once she composed herself, she set the file to burn and placed a video chip in her computer. As she waited for the video to burn, and stood and began pacing around her room, occasionally tossing glances at the pictures on her wall.

Taken minutes after her birth. Her disheveled mother with a tired grin. Her nervous father holding her as though she was made of glass.

Taken hours after her birth. Two boys, identical smiles, sitting close to each other to support the baby girl in their arms.

A year old brunette, taking her first steps in a kitchen, a boy following her with his arms held out incase she fell, while the other was struggling to climb up the counter to the darned cookie jar.

A five year old with her arms hooked around her brother's neck, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell of the sweaty jersey he had on.

A six year old, standing in between two boys in graduation caps and downs, diplomas in hand, huge smiles on their faces.

An eight year old, lying in a hospital bed with her brother, telling jokes to make him smile.

A ten year old with a man who was not her father.

A fourteen year old, preparing to leave for her first day of high school.

An eighteen year old, with two graduate students, both while auburn hair and kind smiles.

Then there was Ella, standing with Jim and Jenna, holding two degrees and a sad smile.

_"Tommy, say something in Na'vi."_

_"Lì'fya kawng."_

_"What's that mean?"_

_"In general, this language sucks. Why would you even want to learn it?"_  
><em><br>"So I can go with you."_

Twelve goddamn years and the tears still pricked at her eyes every time she thought about her brother. Tommy had always been the sweeter and more considerate of the two, especially after Jake's accident. He was a stone-cold Marine, not her fun, joking older brother. That was partly why she didn't want Tommy, the responsible one, to leave her with Jake.

_"What if he's mean?"_  
><em><br>"He's your brother, Ell, what makes you think he'd be mean to you?"_  
><em><br>"He's not the same. He's not Jake."_  
><em><br>Tommy set down the knife he'd been using to cut up Ella's fruit for her favorite dessert- fruit soufflé, even though it had nothing to do with cake. The word was fun, she'd said. "Jake's struggling, Ell. It's our job to be there for him."_  
><em><br>He never once considered that Ella living with Jake would be a bad idea. When others did, he shot them down without hesitation. They could grow up together- something Ella had yet to do, and something Jake had never done. Tommy was just as worried about Jake as Ella was. He couldn't imagine how it must feel to be a prisoner inside your own body._  
><em><br>"I won't be gone long."_  
><em><br>"Fifteen years is a long time. What if I'm married by then? Who's gonna walk me down the aisle?"_  
><em><br>"If I didn't think Jake would tear apart any boy who looked at you that way, I would say he could."_

A beeping noise from her computer signaled that the transfer was complete. She took the disc back and took the moment to grin weakly at her old, old computer. The old family Mac had been in the family for generations. It just wouldn't die.

Ella threw a careless glance at the mirror and tugged at the bottom hem of her white v-neck- it was nearly too small, she noted in embarrassment. She quickly grabbed her brown leather jacket and began lacing up her boots after making sure that the video chip was tucked safetly in her back pocket. She slipped the jacket on and grabbed her key card. Her exo-pack was hanging by a hook next to her front door. She grabbed it and exited her apartment.

Ella jogged down the stairs and waved to the receptionist as she walked toward the door. She pulled her hair into a low ponytail and nodded to the doorman. He nodded back and began messing with the controls on the door panel. Ella secured her exo-mask and stepped into the airtight chamber as it opened. The doors behind her shut and the door to the outside world opened. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally got this bad boy up. I was literally editing it like a nut- I get so picky about details and making sure it makes sense. Anybody wanna beta this? ...Seriously? **

**I really hope this is better than the old version. I changed some names, added more shituff and yep. Enjoy watching Ella suffer.**

**OH. I know these help a lot since I don't always go into character description detail.**

**For Ella- picture Danielle Panabaker  
><strong>

**For Jim- picture a hipster John Krasinski.**

**For Jenna- picture Jenna Fischer  
><strong>

**(Yes, as you can tell, I'm a big fan of The Office. Or I was before Steve Carrell left.)**

**For Hayes- picture Ben Barnes with shorter hair, no beard and no accent. **

**Now on with the chapter!  
><strong>

Strangely, the streets were less crowded than usual- sometimes she had difficulty just walking down the street because of the crowds. Now it was still and quiet. As she walked down the street among the neon-lights of the city, she took a moment to look around at the planet. She'd gone to many seminars about the environment in her lifetime- her fallback plan was to be an environmental scientist specializing in keeping humanity intact. She knew that this need was similar to Jake's- he wanted something-anything- to fight for, so he joined the army. She wanted to fight for her planet, so she tried to help contain the balance of life.

According to her history lessons, Earth had started going downhill right around the 21st century, when the natural resources of the world began slowly disappearing. At that time, the world's population had been about 7 billion people; it had more than tripled since. But because of the hell that was released along with the global energy crisis, the population has topped out at about 20 billion. Even the city of Los Angeles was nearly overpopulated. At night, when she walked home, she had to squeeze through crowds of people to get to the monorail station. It had been even worse for Jake, since he was in a wheelchair. Whenever he and Ella went somewhere, he wasn't okay with her walking behind him, but he didn't want her to get trampled and tossed into him when she walked in front of him either.

She's stayed in this city because Tommy had lived here. She'd practically grown up here. Dolan had raised her here for as long as he could; until the Second Plague had hit. That time, she'd gotten infected, but she'd been one of the lucky ones. They were able to hold the infection from spreading about her younger, stronger body; but Dolan, who was weaker than he looked, died within the month. She considered herself lucky that Jim and Jenna had taken her under their wing.

_Lucky_. She scoffed as she pulled out her key and waited at the stop for the next monorail. _I'm not lucky. If I were lucky, I'd be visiting my parents every day. If I were lucky, I'd be coming home to Jake or Tommy, or maybe even my parents. If I were lucky, I wouldn't be the shell of a person that I am now._

* * *

><p>The walk to the Los Angeles Institute of Aeronautics and Space Administration was a short one after a longer monorail ride. Ella stopped to pick up a small breakfast from McDonalds, one of the only post-modern fast food enterprises that still existed, before entering the campus.<p>

The large glass decor that decorated the lawn of fake grass and faux trees greeted her as she walked under it toward the front doors with the mass of students, interns and faculty. The sliding glass doors slid open to allow the group inside to an airtight chamber. They waited until clean oxygen was dispensed into the room, and they relieved themselves of the masks when the light above the door flashed green. Ella shook her hair out of getting tangled with the strap as the glass doors opened back up to reveal the busy reception area of the building.

Ella looked to her left to walk over to the receptionist desk. She tapped on the glass window, and the petite redhead looked up. A smile crossed her face as she hit a button so that the window slid open automatically.

"Ella! How are you? Do you need something?" Ella looked down as Jenna began to go on her motherly rant, making sure that Ella was safe and happy.

Jenna and her brother Jim had been Ella's caretakers after her godfather had died, and her mentors after she'd finished high school. Despite them being several years older than her, they were her best friends for as long as she wanted to remember. Jim had been her official mentor going into the astrophysics program. Jenna was more of a psychological mediator. Jim and Jenna had both lost their parents; their father to the plague, their mother to ALS. Ella had felt very relatable to them after learning this information. Being alone most of her life, they were her closest friends, and being older than her, they were always making sure that she had enough food, she was caught up on her rent, and (in Jim's case) beating the hell out of anybody who messed with her. Luckily, that had never been necessary.

"I need to talk to Jim. I need his help." She said the last part quietly. Jenna raised her eyebrows. "It's about Jake."

Jenna nodded in understanding. "Oh, okay. He's in his office- you know where it is." Ella thanked her friend and walked down the familiar hallways toward Jim's classroom, passing students and professors alike. Knowing some of them by name, she greeted them and continued on. She stopped outside a door labeled _Dr. James Casey_ and knocked gently.

She was buzzed in, and she entered.

Jim was sitting at his desk in his usual laid-back manner, twirling a pen in his long, thin fingers and tapping his foot as he stared at designs for something-or-other, his large reading glasses adorning his slightly crooked nose. He looked up as she entered and he smiled hugely. Ella flashed a smile back as she carefully slid the video-chip out of her pocket.

"Hey," he chuckled in his deep voice. "How's my girl today?" Ella chuckled and shrugged at his silly tendency; Jim had been referring to her as "his girl" for years on end.

"All right, I guess." She took the seat that sat across from his desk, keeping the chip gripped tightly in her hand.

"Now you and I both know that means something's up. Jenna's working and I don't have a class for another hour and a half." He set his pen down and leaned forward. "Though if this is legitimate girl talk, it'll have to wait."

"I needed to talk to you. Scientist to scientist." Jim raised an eyebrow, and his joking smile faded slightly.

"About?"

Ella tried to find the right words, but she could barely formulate the thoughts that were running rampant through her mind. She distracted herself by observing the blueprints on his desk. Jim had designs for a small shuttle that couldn't even fit a child to be sent to another distant planet in the same district as Alpha Centauri A. From what he'd told her, a base was planned to be set up on another moon that was orbiting Polyphemus; the plan being to make sure the planet was inhabited by any living sources, and see if there was any vegetation that could be taken. Her eyes shot to the papers. From what she could understand, the construction of this rocket would be extremely complicated, and because its purpose was to cut the travel time by seventy percent, there was no way another one could be made for a flight to Pandora.

She swallowed. "Any-any luck on the rocket? Looks like you've been working hard on it."

"Well, ever since they cancelled my Avatar training five years ago, I haven't had much to do with my spare time, with school and all." Jim said quietly. His blue eyes trailed to her fist. "What'cha got there?"

Ella opened her mouth, then decided against it for the time being. "Nothing," she muttered. She looked up, locked eyes with him briefly, then looked back down, "Do you miss it?"

"Do I miss learning that awful language, getting used to having a tail and and spending hours upon hours maneuvering myself in a body four feet taller than I'm used to?" He laughed sarcastically. "Of course," he said, sobering up suddenly. "Sometimes, to piss off my sister, I speak Na'vi because I have this hope-" he cut himself off and looked down. Ella watched him, feeling pity for her friend.

"I can't even begin to explain how badly I wanted to go." Jim muttered, looking wistfully at the last family picture that had been taken before his parents had died. His mother was in the final stages of ALS at the time, but she looked strong and healthy for her family. His father also looked healthy, if not tired and overworked, but Ella knew that he'd died a few years later. "My dad wanted me to do it too. All he ever wanted was for us to get the hell out of here."

"Jim, I think everybody who's fallen on the playground into that crap excuse for grass vegetation would want to go. I've never even seen a tree. A real one." Ella's eyes trailed to the only piece of artwork in the office- an oil painting of a forest on Pandora. It was all Ella knew she'd be seeing of the planet. "On Pandora, the trees are enormous. With huge leaves. And if you fell off, there'd be nice, soft Earth to fall on."

"You know what I want to do when I get up there?" Jim said, his voice growing quiet. "I want to find a nice patch of grass and just lay in it. Lay there and feel it. It's supposed to be so soft and nice. That's what Grandpa always said." He kept staring at the window upon which the blinds were partially drawn, with the littlest bit of sunshine that was peeking through the smog-cloaked atmosphere and into the office. "He and my Grandma used to lay in the grass and talk...talk about the future...how they wanted to save the environment before it was too late."

"Too late," Ella repeated quietly to herself. She had a funny feeling that she'd had this conversation with Tommy before. Jim sighed and pulled himself out of his chair, walking towards the window.

"They had this idea that the world was going to end. Cave in on itself." Jim pulled open the blinds and exposed the office to complete light. The office overlooked the campus and the students that scurried along the grass, exo-masks secured on their faces. He looked up at the eerie greenish color of the sky and grimaced. "My grandpa had this escape pod that he named Echo- after my Mom-because, well, she passed before him, actually-Jenna and I still have it hidden. Just in case. But, we won't need it. It'll get better." he said, almost to himself.

"What are you saying? That this isn't so bad?" Ella gestured toward the barren land that was Los Angeles.

"No. I hate it here. But, it's going to get better." Jim repeated, walking back over with a bounce in his step. Ella stared at him in astonishment.

"Jim, are you kidding? We are past the point of no return. The ice caps have melted. They noticed that over a hundred years ago and did nothing. Greenland is a tiny island up north, Hawaii doesn't even _exist_ anymore, Japan is now a damn ship country- and- Jim, we can't breathe our _air_!"

Jim held up a hand to silence her, smiling. "I've got something to show you."

Jim walked over to one of the bookshelves. He approached the smallest one and ran his fingers along the spines, leaving trails as his fingers wiped the dust away. He grabbed one of the fatter books and slid it out from the shelf, causing an explosion of dust to fly up from the shelf.

"Here we are." He set the book down in front of Ella. The title, which read _Pendragon: The Never War_, boldly printed against a picture of a boy in an airplane flying next to a tower in New York City.

Ella raised her eyebrow. "A children's book?" She checked the back cover. "From...the last century?"

"This was a book from one of my great-grandmother's absolute favorite book series- but loved it just a little less than that one about the wizards." Jim thumped his finger against the book. "The future is depicted through the author's eyes in this book. He predicts that by the year five thousand ten, we will have a clean Earth, harmony across all nations, and the planet will finally be at peace. We even expand to other galaxies, Emma. It's only twenty-one-sixty! There's still time!"

"This is a fictional children's tale, Jim." Ella snapped, feeling the heat rise in her. She stood up, snatching up the book. "That man was an author; it's his job to create a fantasy world, so that we can escape from our everyday problems. Even if this could be possible, it won't happen on its own. We'd have to work for it. But look where we are now!" she practically shouted, waving her arms around. "We have to use exo-masks to go down the street when we're out of milk-but one day, there will be no need for that, because cows are becoming extinct. _Cows._ Animals that once overpopulated small towns-like cows, and-and _deer_- are on the brink of extinction. Did you hear that-it was just reported- that the ocean is completely gone? _Empty."_ She threw the book back on the desk in front of Jim, letting another explosion of dust to burst from the pages and settle like snowflakes. "The seas are poisoned. The fish are gone. There is nothing left. We have destroyed our planet, our home. And it won't be long before we have to pay for it. In fact," Ella crossed her arms. "We're paying for it by letting our own population die out. People who are left to fend for themselves because they don't have exo-masks are the first to go. People who lived before the global energy crisis swung fully- they're all losing their minds because of the magnitude of the change that they're experiencing. You saw how your grandpa went. They knew this planet when it was beautiful, Jim. I never knew that, and neither did you or Jenna. There is no turning back. We're covered in greenhouse gases, and I don't care what the damn RDA says, I don't trust the food they grow. We will starve. And you're trying to tell me that some loon from the twenty-first century wrote an entire fantasy about a picture-perfect future and you're choosing to believe it?"

"It's all scientifically possible, Ella! We can fix the planet!" Jim protested.

"But it's not just about the planet and science, Jim. It's about national security and foreign affairs, which is exactly the reason my brother was nearly killed when I was eight years old. There was, and still is, a war going on because we all need energy. Jake was a lucky bastard, because he just lost the ability to walk. This planet is NEVER going to co-exist, because all we are is a bunch of selfish countries that choose to oppress and force change upon those who are different, and those who have what they don't. And because we won't ever coexist, we'll never be able to work together to save the planet that we all live on."

A ringing silence hung in the air after Ella's tirade. Jim refused to look Ella in the eyes; he just looked past her at something on his wall. Ella crossed her arms and glared at his nameplate.

"You never told me what that was."

Ella opened her hand and showed him the video chip. Jim raised his eyebrows. "What's on that?"

"I wanted to send this to my brother." she blurted out.

Jim's mouth fell open slightly. He glanced back and forth from Ella's eyes to the chip in her hand. "I, uhh..."

"It's fine. I just expected a bit more help from my _surrogate_ brother." With those final biting words, Ella made to leave the office.

"Ella, I have to tell you something."

Ella stopped and turned, her video chip still gripped tightly in her small fist. "Yes, Jim?" she said icily.

He started, staring at her anger-filled face, then sighed and gestured. "Sit, please."

Ella moved over toward the seat and sat down grudgingly. Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, setting it on the desk. He sighed, shifted uncomfortably, and nudged the handkerchief toward her. Ella look at him, eyebrows knitted together.

Jim folded his hands on his desk and looked at her nervously. Ella shook her head at him. "What?" she asked angrily, not regretting her tone.

"I don't know how to say it, so I'm just going to come out with it." He held her gaze. "The ISV Venture Star returned nearly a month ago. I only just found out about it right before you'd shown up, and as it turns out, I'm the only one who knows anything about it."

Ella shook her head. "Should that mean something to me? I don't keep track of the ships that leave the planet, I haven't even started working-"

"The ISV Venture Star carried the crew to and from Pandora." Jim said quickly and bluntly.

Ella stared, allowing the revelation to sink in. She felt a sensation in her skull, as though she was in a decompressment chamber and the pressure was getting to her. Her eyes started to burn and her small hands started shaking. "Jake wasn't with them," she rationalized in a quiet voice, her eyes glistening with tears unshed.

Jim shook his head. "I don't even have the full story. All I know is that everybody who was involved in the situation are contractually obligated to not speak a word of what happened on Pandora. All of the soldiers went home without a story. I think the government is hushing it up because something happened up there."

Ella barely heard a word of what was said. "And nobody's legally allowed to tell what happened?" she choked out. "I'll never find out what happened to Jake?"

Jim reached across the desk and took her hand. "Is that really something you want to know?" he asked gently.

Ella took her hand back and covered her eyes, resting her elbows on her knees. Jim's words had torn into her like a knife, though he hadn't meant them too. Twelve years of hoping ended with nothing. Jake was dead. She started to sob. Jake was dead. Repeating the words in her head made it so much more real.

"No..." she whispered, so quietly she thought Jim hadn't heard her. She heard Jim's chair scratch the floor from him leaving and felt a warm hand on her back nearly immediately afterward.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should have told you sooner."

"No," she gulped. "J-Jake's still gone. It wouldn't have m-made a-"

"Am I interrupting?" a gentle voice caused Ella to cut herself off. She lifted her head to see a young man standing in the doorway. The man was dressed professionally in a collared shirt, khaki pants and nice shoes. His dark hair was slicked back away from his forehead, and he wore an almost cocky smile on his face. Many people would call his look "Devilishly Handsome," but Ella couldn't help but feel a bad vibe coming from this man. His pale face seemed vacant of any threat, but the friendliness seemed posed. His lips seemed to be twisted into a leer rather than a smile, and his grey eyes seemed cold and dark. Jim appeared to feel the same way. He tensed up at the sight of the man.

"Uhh, actually-"

"No- no, Jim, it's fine. It's business. I'll go." Ella muttered. Jim gave her back one final rub and he stood up, grabbing his handkerchief off of his desk and handing it to her. She grabbed it and dabbed gently at her eyes, taking several deep breaths. The man walked into the room, toward Ella, clearing his throat.

"Doctor Sully?" Ella jerked her head up, forgetting momentarily that her eyes were red and puffy, and her face was most likely a mess. The man's face stayed stoic.

"How do you know my name?" she mumbled. "I'm not- I just graduated, I'm hardly-"

"That doesn't matter. It appears that I did indeed come at a bad time," the man said, looking at Jim.

The look of annoyance on Jim's face had never left since the man had stepped into the room. "I'm afraid you did. Ella was just informed of a family member's death."

"My condolences. I wasn't aware you had more family on this planet," the man said smoothly.

"But how would you?" Ella choked, her voice hardly becoming smoother. "I don't know you. Did-did you know my brother?"

"He couldn't have. You're younger than me," Jim said, looking at the man, who smiled again.

"I did not know your brother; I knew of him. Thomas Sully. Great mind." Ella rubbed at her temples, letting out a breath as the man sat in the chair that Jim had previously occupied. "I also knew of Jacob. My older brother was in the same squad as he; though he was much younger. He was killed in Venezuela about fourteen years ago."

Ella swallowed and looked at him. "Jake got hurt in that fight."  
>The man nodded. "Christopher was only eighteen. I supposed only the good die young, and heroes are the ones who are remembered."<p>

Ella squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away, burying her eyes into Jim's handkerchief. Jim, attempting to spare Ella, tried to steer the conversation away from Jake.

"So, who are you, exactly?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Doctor Casey, it appears I've forgotten to state my name and business. My name is Nicholas Hayes, I'm a scientist." He reached over and shook hands with Jim, who raised his eyebrows at Hayes's broad introduction.

"Well, Doctor Hayes, what can I do for you?"

"I'll leave," a composed Ella interjected, attempting to stand up. She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder- Hayes was easing her back into her chair. She could feel Jim's eyes burning into the two of them.

"I think you should sit down," Hayes said quietly.

"No, she's right, she should go." Jim said, standing up and hitting a switch that caused a hologram screen to materialize in front of Jim's face. Ella saw a reflection of Jenna's face through the blue-tinted screen. "Jen, could you come down here and get Ella?"

"Jim, I'm swamped right now. Just tell her to sit tight-" Jenna turned and she was cut off. Jim rolled his eyes and shut off the screen.

"I was actually hoping to speak to Doctor Sully," Hayes told Jim. Ella frowned and looked at him. "It's of great importance."

"What could you possibly want?" Ella muttered. "I have to organize a funeral."

"Doctor Sully just lost her brother, Doctor Hayes. I think she needs to have some time to herself before she gets back to work. I assume you're trying to hire her at your firm?"

Hayes gave the impression of not hearing his last two sentences. He looked at Ella with interest. "A funeral? I thought your brother died twelve years ago."

"He did," Ella said softly. "Tommy was shot and killed. But-Jake didn't-"

"Didn't come back with the ISV Venture Star?"

The office was completely silent. Both Jim and Ella were staring at Hayes in pure astonishment, as though not sure those words had come out of his mouth.

"How-?" Ella whispered, staring at him. "How did you-?" He held up a hand and smiled, cutting her off.

"I don't supposed you've both heard that the ISV Venture Star returned nearly six months ago from the expedition to Pandora," Hayes said coolly.

"Six months?" Jim said furiously. "I was told-"

"You were given false information, Doctor Casey." Hayes said simply. "The government is keeping the whole affair quiet. Nobody is to know what happened on Pandora. Only select family members are permitted to know." Ella opened her mouth. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Ella, but your brother was just another soldier out there. You're with the percentage that shan't be told.

"Then what are you telling her now?" Jim cut in.

Hayes sighed and leaned back. "I suppose I should start from the beginning." he leaned back in his seat and looked at Ella. "You're aware of the reason your brother went on the mission in the first place?"

Ella nodded. "They made an Avatar for Tommy, but because it was so expensive they needed somebody to fill his shoes."

"Right. In steps your brother. Trained Marine in need of money for new legs and hope for a future for the only light left in his life." he pointed at Ella, who brought her hands around her shoulders, as though trying to block herself off from Hayes.

"They made it to Pandora. Jake was on the planet, he's used the Avatar, and he made video diaries. His job was to try and convince the Na'vi that we were a friendly people so that we could possibly settle. Introduce our language to them. Unfortunately...there was a slight hiccup in the mission."

"A hiccup?" Ella said, her voice slightly higher than before.  
>Hayes nodded. "The Na'vi wanted nothing to do with us. They were possibly threatened by the idea that we had better technology than them. That we were more powerful." Hayes sighed and his head drooped as he looked at the ground.<p>

"There was an uprising."

"Which resulted in the scientists, the militia, and every human on that planet to return." Jim said coolly.

Hayes raised his eyebrows. "It seems you know more about this than I thought, Doctor Casey."

"I have my sources. I also know that the Interplanetary Commerce Administration is up their asses," Jim said shortly, glaring at Hayes. "The RDA was supposed to abide by a treaty that prohibited weapons of mass destruction on that planet while they were mining for unobotamiun. They didn't listen." He looked at Ella. "Many Na'vi were killed, from what I understand."

"And even more of our own men," Hayes contradicted. "I supposed that you were taught in your radical college classes that the Na'vi are a peaceful and friendly species?"

"Wait, I don't understand." Ella said. "What does this have to do with my brother? Where is Jake?"

Hayes didn't say anything for a moment. He just glared at Jim. "Here's your proof that the Na'vi are no more than alien beasts that threatened our entire existence on that planet and severing any ties of brotherhood between out species." He held out his fist to Ella, who hesitantly held open her hand. His fist slowly opened to allow a thin chain with a dog tag on it to drop into her open palm.

Ella brought the familiar chain to her face and felt her breath hitch. She slowly turned over the dogtags to see the shiny letters _Sully, Jacob_ engraved on the dog tag.

"He never takes this off," she whispered, touching the thin metal. She suddenly returned to the night that Jake called her from the town morgue, telling her that Tommy was dead. It was the same night that he'd decided to go to Pandora and leave her with her godfather.

She chocked out the three words that her ten-year-old self had uttered to Jake that night; "So he's dead?"

Hayes shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers. "No. He's been kidnapped by the natives on Pandora."

**I vomit at this. **Charlotte Brontë** wept today.**

**-V**


End file.
